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28-08-2011, 08:09
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Coopers Stout has a story to tell. About how things might have been. About a parallel beer world.

I knew all about Coppers beers before I moved to Australia. Hell, I'd even drunk some of them.And pretty damn nice they were, too. If a bit on the strong side. Not sure what I would have done without them during my time in Melbourne. Drunk a lot more wine, probably.

At the time, I didn't see how Coopers connected with British beer. But I knew a lot less back then. Less than I realised.

Last week, on the very last page of the Whitbread Gravity Book I came across a handful of American beers. Various Ales, including a couple from the legendary Ballantine. Take a look at them:




American beers in 1938


Year
Brewer
country
Beer
Style
Acidity
FG
OG
Colour
ABV
atten-uation


1938
Ballantine
USA
India Pale Ale
IPA
0.05
1019.2
1077.6
16
7.63
75.26%


1938
Ballantine
USA
XXX Ale
Ale
0.04
1016.1
1056.8
11
5.28
71.65%


1938
Burke
USA
Ale
Ale
0.05
1013.7
1055.2
11
5.40
75.18%


1938
Dawes
USA
Black Horse Ale
Ale
0.04
1006.4
1050.6
12
5.78
87.35%


1938
Feigenspan
USA
Amber Ale
Amber Ale
0.04
1013.3
1059.1
14
5.97
77.50%


1938
Foxhead
USA
Old Wankesla Ale
Ale
0.05
1016
1061
19
5.85
73.77%


1938
Frontenac
USA
White Cap Ale
Ale
0.04
1010.6
1053.9
14
5.65
80.33%


1938
Hoffman
USA
Ale
Ale
0.04
1016.6
1060.7
33
5.73
72.65%


1938
McSorley
USA
Cream Stock Ale
Stock Ale
0.05
1011.6
1060
14
6.32
80.67%


Source:


Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001



Can you guess what struck me most about them? How strong they are compared to British beers of the period. Ballantine IPA, at 1077.6º is around 20 points stronger than any British IPA. The weakest beer is over 1050º.

Back to the story. The tale these beers are telling. About how different British beer could have been, had 20th-century history taken a different turn. Because Cooper's Stout and the 1930's American beers hadn't changed to become so much stronger than British beers. It's British beers that had changed.

Cooper's Stout. It's what British Stout might have been without WW I. Actually Stout. Another reason to love it

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